"I was just thinking of this intriguing scenario off and on tonight (and please forgive me, it’s late and I’m tired), but what if what we call “God” and “Jesus” were no more than a part of an advanced alien race? When you actually start to think about the story of the bible, it’s really quite interesting the things you can come up with.
For example, everyone knows about the “Star of Bethlehem,” right? And how Mary was a supposed “virgin” when she gave birth to Jesus? Now, bringing the stories into today’s context, the light could’ve represented a UFO (for lack of a better term), or something equally unexplainable at the time. How can a virgin woman give birth to a healthy baby? Look at the abduction phenomenon and the bizarre stories that are recounted. Could Mary have been a possible victim of abduction and artificially insiminated with the sperm of an advanced being?
Or how about where it says that man was created in God’s image? That right there tells us that God might look a lot like what an average human looks like. Is God nothing more than part of an advanced humanoid species that created a sub-race of their own? If they are able to create other beings in their image, they certainly must be advanced and would be considered “gods” to us.
Or how about the fact that Jesus had certain “powers.” He was able to cure the sick, heal the maimed, let the blind see, etc. Pretty extraodinary for a regular human born baby.
Or when Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into “Heaven.” Could he only have been returning to his (I hate to use this word but here goes) “mothership” once he had finished his work on earth?
Now, please take note, I’m not saying I believe this to be true. I have my own beliefs about the whole spiritual/God thing. This is mostly in jest, but I couldn’t help thinking about this and the similarities one can make when they think about it and apply it to what they know or believe to be true. What honestly got me thinking about this was something I read in a book where this ancient civilization said they had a visitor come to their city. He was different from them being as he was a white man with a beard. He hung around their village for a while preaching and talking to the people there. He was also said to heal people. Then one day he said he had to leave, but would come back one day. I totally forgot where I read this, but I remember that much and that’s what got me thinking.
Some might call you a weirdo, my son. Others, a drugged out, tripping hippie. But I can see where you’re coming from.
Anyway it sounds as plausible as any of the stuff that “actually happened” and IMHO is pretty creative. I especially like the part about Mary getting “artificially inseminated.” If you ever decide to make a movie on this, send it off to Mystery Science Theatre, I’m sure they’d dig it.
Maybe I just have a really odd sense of humor, but I like your style, Kriss. Or should I say…Kriss…(t)?
I think that your idea is possible. It certainly makes sense when you think about it. I hate to sound sacreligious, but is it really? I mean what if it was true? Wouldn’t "God " be proud that his little children were so smart to have figured it out what he was. But then he may be upset and decide to kill us because we know his little secret. Better not tell anyone that you figured him out. he may have spies:D
Y’know, in his album Amused To Death, Roger Waters makes reference to this sort of thing… “The Alien Prophet”, he repeats numerous times.
I think, given the choice between “Jesus was an alien” and “Jesus was a mystical, divine being capable of stretching and/or violating the laws of reality”, both seem equally plausible to my non-religious, open-minded self.
However, the really important question is this: If Jesus was simply a member of a highly-advanced (technologically, at least) extra-terrestrial species, does that in some way invalidate the messages and teachings he professed? Does that invalidate the general, core teachings of Christianity?
In that article, I talk about “Gwen,” who does, in fact, believe that Jesus was a time-traveling alien. One of her pals, “Will,” has similarly bizarre beliefs. Among other things, he has said: “Some of the Creator Gods wanted man to evolve as a God. Others did not! The controversy became heated and created conflict for many thousands of years. So great was this conflict, Wars became prevalent across the Earth. The side that eventually won did not want man to understand his origins. This is where we stand today. The other side having lost is now returning to set man free and give him his place in the Stars.”
We may get some wackos here at the SDMB, but I’ve never seen anything like these two before or since. For all I know, they were with the Heaven’s Gate folks when they took their ultimate trip.
I guess you could call God an “alien,” but that’s not really how most people think. I mean, there certainly could be alien forms of life – natural life. God, however, would seem to be a supernatural “form of life” and thus not in the same category.
Ah, but the fact that most religions don’t account for alien life suggest that these ETs must fall into one of three categories: human, beast or devine.
In the 1970s a Swiss hotelier called Erich von Daniken made a lot of money promoting this very idea in several books, starting with his best-seller “Chariots of the Gods”, widely hyped using the line “Was God an astronaut?”.
His was a less than cogent argument, with holes like cheese, but it caused a big fuss for a while. He’s still around, and according to a documentary I saw he’s planning a sort of theme park dedicated to his theories.
I think Jesus being an alien makes the most sense, for all the stuff that he supposedly did. Of course, some religious experts say that Jesus never did anything miraculous at all, he was just a normal guy preaching the word of God.
All i know is that Jesus DID NOT die on the cross, but was taken before he died, and revived, and at the end of the 3 day period, presented to the people, who thought he was resurrected.
This also bring up another point though, if we show some cro magnons a gun, and shot an animal, they would think we were gods. So is all the miraculous stuff Jesus did miraculous after all?
Praise Ma’el!